How to be at peace in your office through Meditation

Let us admit it, there is great difficulty in accepting work as worship, if not for anything for the simple reason that we just don’t seem to be at peace with our work environment.

Let us admit it, there is great difficulty in accepting work as worship, if not for anything for the simple reason that we just don’t seem to be at peace with our work environment.

But how wonderful it would be if we manage to make work an antonym of stress rather than a synonym.

Not many would even think of unwinding through holistic means given the pressure cooker environment – deadlines and more. Quire predictable. And I have factored in all this. If you think that meditation either can’t help your performance at work or doesn’t fit– you would be surprised at what I have for you in this article.

Over the last decade, through my own experiences and meeting new people, I observed that meditation has progressed from being an innovation in attainment of peace to a spiritual trend and in this day and age a necessity. Meditation is also the focus of hundreds of scientific studies. And the lion’s share of those studies have shown incredibly powerful emotional, spiritual, mental and even physical health benefits, so much so that it’s been billed as a universal remedy by some.

1. Take ‘awareness’ halts

The first, and potentially most obvious, is to turn your break (or breaks) into mindful breaks.

No, I am not telling you to bring out your meditation gear and play the guided meditations I have created for you. I simply mean taking a few minutes of your break and using that as a moment to practice mindful breathing, the most easy to do meditation practice of all. Even a few minutes of practice has been shown to calm frayed nerves and ease lingering tension.

Here’s how to practice mindful breathing:

Pay attention to the complete cycle of each in-breath and out-breath and notice if it’s short or long, deep or shallow. Let it be deep.

Be watchful of what is happening: Our minds are like little monkeys, always jumping around. We tend not to notice just how chaotic our mind is until we stop to meditate for the first time. As you’re breathing, pay attention to whatever thoughts, feelings, and sensations arise in your mind and body and simply acknowledge them. See them there and try not to judge them as bad or good.

Go back to your breathing: Once you’ve acknowledged whatever arose, simply go back to focusing on your breathing.

This simple practice can be done in as little as a few seconds or for the majority of your break. It’s really up to you, but I suggest practicing for at least a few minutes if it’s a more dedicated practice in your car or wherever you’re meditating.

2. Let the breaks be a time to be mindful

Throughout our day, w’re faced with moments where we’re either waiting or simply traveling from one place to the next. These are perfect moments for connecting to the source of infinite power within and recharge. This can be anything from mental chanting of a mantra, indulging in deep breathing. or just gathering your creative thoughts together through meditation.

3. Use meditation in communication

Communication is the cornerstone of work, whether it’s among colleagues, team members, your boss or shareholders. Mindful communication allows you to bring this deep awareness and intentional effort into one of the most important aspects of workplace culture.

As opposed to some specific practice, mindful communication is about two things:

a) Mindful speech: This is all about being more intentional with your speech. On a basic level, it means thinking before you speak. On a deeper level, it means paying attention to what’s going on in the conversation and responding in a way that takes those observations into consideration.

b) Deep listening: Deep, or mindful, listening is all about truly listening to the person who is speaking as opposed to doing what most of us do: waiting for our next chance to speak. This is about making the effort to care about what the other person is expressing non-judgmentally and letting it soak in, which you can then use to respond more skillfully with mindful speech.

4. Don’t be In a complicated relationship with technology

How you use technology in your place of work is perhaps the most interesting way to bring meditation into the workplace.

That is why I am building the best apps to help you unwind and take a recharge break over a plethora of meditation practices.

And, the cool part about it is, there’s so much you can do here to change how you interact with tech and make those interactions not only healthier but also more productive.

This mostly applies to those who work from a computer, however, they’re really beneficial to anyone who practices them.

Watch this space as I unveil them for you in the months to come!

Work might, at first, seem like the last place for holistic unwinding of any kind. However, meditation has been shown to be the perfect tool for making employees more productive, effective, and healthier as a whole. And, the great part is, it’s super easy to bring meditation into the workplace with these simple strategies and tips.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ishan Shivanand is the pioneer of contemporary meditative innovation. He has championed inner awakening for all through meditative and holistic practices. Actively involved in the ongoing training of world’s top professionals, masses, youth and seekers on his mission of making spirituality tasteful for all, Ishan is now sharing his invaluable wisdom with netizens, furthering the “eternal bliss” movement which seeks to make spirituality practical, doable and easy to understand as opposed to its romantic interpretation prevailing in today’s information age.